Optical emission spectroscopy of Ar-N2 mixture plasma

Optical emission spectroscopy measurements are presented to characterize the different excitation and ionization processes of both atomic and molecular species in Ar-N₂ mixture plasma under different discharge conditions. Particularly, the emission intensities of nitrogen (0-0) band of second positive system at 337.1 nm and (0-0) band of first negative systems at 391.4 nm are used to determine the dependence of their radiative states on argon fraction in the mixture. It is observed that the addition of argon gas influences the radiative states differently due to their different populating mechanisms. The results demonstrate that the addition of argon to nitrogen plasma remarkably enhance the population of N₂(C³Π_u) radiative state through Penning excitation involving argon metastable states. The electron temperature is determined from Ar-I spectral line intensities, using Boltzmann's plot method and is found to depend on argon fraction in the mixture.     

A new compound, jolynamine, from marine brown alga Jolyna laminarioides

A new compound, jolynamine (1), was isolated from the marine brown alga Jolyna laminarioides collected from the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. In addition, four known compounds, namely saringosterol (2), loliolide (3), methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate (4) and propyl-4-hydroxybenzoate (5), were isolated for the first time from the marine brown alga Iyengaria stellata, and two known compounds, namely 3,4,5-trimethylaniline (6) and harmine (7), were isolated for the first time from the marine brown alga Melanothamnus afaqhusainii. Compound 6 is synthetically known but was isolated for the first time from a natural source. The structures of these compounds were elucidated with the help of powerful spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, the methanolic extracts of both algae showed anti-microbial activities against various bacteria and fungi.     

Three-dimensional mixed convection squeezing flow

The unsteady mixed convection squeezing flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid between two vertical parallel planes is discussed. The fluid is electrically conducting. The governing equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by appropriate transformations. The transformed equations are solved successfully by a modern and powerful technique. The effects of the emerging parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are studied and examined. The values of the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are tabulated and analyzed.     

Pulsed ion beam-assisted carburizing of titanium in methane discharge

The carburizing of titanium (Ti) is accomplished by utilizing energetic ion pulses of a 1.5 kJ Mather type dense plasma focus (DPF) device operated in methane discharge. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the deposition of polycrystalline titanium carbide (TiC). The samples carburized at lower axial and angular positions show an improved texture for a typical (200)TiC plane. The Williamson--Hall method is employed to estimate average crystallite size and microstrains in the carburized Ti surface. Crystallite size is found to vary from ～ 50 to 100~nm, depending on the deposition parameters. Microstrains vary with the sample position and hence ion flux, and are converted from tensile to compressive by increasing the flux. The carburizing of Ti is confirmed by two major doublets extending from 300 to 390~cm^-1 and from 560 to 620~cm^-1 corresponding to acoustic and optical active modes in Raman spectra, respectively. Analyses by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) have provided qualitative and quantitative profiles of the carburized surface. The Vickers microhardness of Ti is significantly improved after carburizing.     

Jeffrey fluid flow due to curved stretching surface with Cattaneo-Christov heat flux

The two-dimensional (2D) motion of the Jeffrey fluid by the curved stretching sheet coiled in a circle is investigated. The non-Fourier heat flux model is used for the heat transfer analysis. Feasible similarity variables are used to transform the highly nonlinear ordinary equations to partial differential equations (PDEs). The homotopy technique is used for the convergence of the velocity and temperature equations. The effects of the involved parameters on the physical properties of the fluid are described graphically. The results show that the curvature parameter is an increasing function of velocity and temperature, and the temperature is a decreasing function of the thermal relaxation time. Besides, the Deborah number has a reverse effect on the pressure and surface drag force.     

The Development of a Green Innovative Bioactive Film for Industrial Application as a New Emerging Technology to Protect the Quality of Fruits

Today, the most significant challenge encountered by food manufacturers is degradation in the food quality during storage, which is countered by expensive packing, which causes enormous monetary and environmental costs. Edible packaging is a potential alternative for protecting food quality and improving shelf life by delaying microbial growth and providing moisture and gas barrier properties. For the first time, the current article reports the preparation of the new films from Ditriterpenoids and Secomeliacins isolated from Melia azedarach (Dharek) Azadirachta indica plants to protect the quality of fruits. After evaluating these films, their mechanical, specific respirational, coating crystal elongation, elastic, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), film thickness, and nanoindentation test properties are applied to apple fruit for several storage periods: 0, 3, 6, 9 days. The fruits were evaluated for postharvest quality by screening several essential phytochemical, physiological responses under film coating and storage conditions. It was observed that prepared films were highly active during storage periods. Coated fruits showed improved quality due to the protection of the film, which lowered the transmission rate and enhanced the diffusion rate, followed by an increase in the shelf life. The coating crystals were higher in Film-5 and lower activity in untreated films. It was observed that the application of films through dipping was a simple technique at a laboratory scale, whereas extrusion and spraying were preferred on a commercial scale. The phytochemicals screening of treated fruits during the storage period showed that a maximum of eight important bioactive compounds were present in fruits after the treatment of films. It was resolved that new active films (1–5) were helpful in the effective maintenance of fruit quality and all essential compounds during storage periods. It was concluded that these films could be helpful for fruits growers and the processing industry to maintain fruit quality during the storage period as a new emerging technology.     

Simple Synthesis of Conformationally Fixed Glycosamine Analogues by Beckmann Rearrangement at the Carbohydrate Ring

Conformationally fixed carbohydrate analogues are promising small‐molecule inhibitors for hydrolases like O‐GlcNAcase (OGA); however, their synthesis usually requires many steps. Herein we describe cycloadditions of dichloroketene to various glycals and subsequent Beckmann rearrangements, which offer an easy and stereoselective entry to glycosamine derivatives in good yields. The reactions are applicable for hexoses, pentoses, and disaccharides, and transformations to the corresponding imidates proceed smoothly. First biological tests reveal that such imidates indeed inhibit human OGA.     

Synthesis of cellulose–metal nanoparticle composites: development and comparison of different protocols

Deposition of nanoparticles on the surface of a variety of materials is a subject of great interest due to their potential applications in electronic devices, sensing, catalysis and bio-medical sciences. In this context, we have explored and compared various methodologies to generate gold and silver nanoparticles on the surface of cellulose fibers. It was found that boiling of the cellulose fibers in alkaline solution of gold and silver salts led to the formation and immobilization of gold and silver nanoparticles. However, in case of lecithin treated and thiol-modified cellulose fibers, high temperature was not essentially required for the formation and deposition of nanoparticles on cellulose substrate. In both these cases, fairly uniform metal nanoparticles were obtained in good yields (~43 wt% gold loading in case of thiol modified cellulose fibers) at room temperature. Borohydride-reduction method resulted in relatively lower loading (~22 wt%) with a wide size distribution of gold and silver nanoparticles on cellulose fibers. All these nanoparticle–cellulose composites were thoroughly characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, and elemental analyzer. Thiol modified cellulose–gold nanoparticle composites served as active catalysts in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol into 4-aminophenol.     

Entropy generation in radiative motion of tangent hyperbolic nanofluid in presence of activation energy and nonlinear mixed convection

In this communication, an optimization of entropy generation is performed through thermodynamics second law. Tangent hyperbolic nanomaterial model is used which describes the important slip mechanism namely Brownian and thermophoresis diffusions. MHD fluid is considered. The novel binary chemical reaction model is implemented to characterize the impact of activation energy. Nonlinear mixed convection, dissipation and Joule heating are considered. Appropriate similarity transformations are implemented to get the required coupled ODEs system. The obtained system is tackled for series solutions by homotopy method. Graphs are constructed to analyze the impact of different flow parameters on entropy number, nanoparticle volume concentration, temperature and velocity fields. Total entropy generation rate is calculated via various flow variables. It is noticed from obtained results that entropy number depend up thermal irreversibility, viscous dissipation and Joule heating irreversibility and concentration irreversibility. Decreasing behavior of concentration is witnessed for higher estimations of chemical reaction variable. Entropy number is more for higher Hartmann number, Weissenberg number and chemical reaction variable while contrast behavior is noted for Bejan number.